Do you think there's an age limit to making friends?

Carrie Bradshaw, the columnist in Sex and the City, always introduces each episode's happenings with a pertinent question. However, reality is hardly like reel life, where everything gets beautifully resolved at the end and the viewer can usually derive answers to each episode's engima. But it seems kinda cool (admittedly pretentious) to begin this entry with a question, Carrie-style.

when foresters asked me with whom i thought i would remain in contact after we came back to Singapore, i answered that i wasn't quite sure. Because i got along pretty well with everyone in the group but there wasn't a  group of people that i was particularly close to. 

we have only been back in singapore for close to 2 months but somehow, perhaps due to the ruthlessly speedy way of living life here, our thailand stint seems like an eternity. 

i was just sitting at tiong bahru market with some foresters today, eating qing teng and listening to them excitedly make plans for next week's gathering. and feeling rather touched that we would want to hang out with one another so regularly, despite the fact that there isn't a common goal to unite us all and our differences may prove to be a deterrent to enhancing our friendships.

looking back, it seemed that no distinct cliques had formed over our month of "cohabitation" together.  given that 21 adults are elbowing into one another's existance for an extended period of time and it's human nature that people would forge more meaningful friendships with peers of similar interests, it's quite an absurd phenomenon huh. in thailand, i was concerned that this would mean that no body would gain any friends from this expedition and we would all just disperse and go our separate ways. but i guess our no-distinct-cliques relationship has  worked out in our favor, since people are gung-ho for team outings.

returning to the initial question, i feel there is an age limit. too much ground and history to cover for new aquaintances making an entrance into your life. too little time for the window of opportunity to stay open before the winds of seasonal change blow these aquaintances away  and drop other batches into your path. too much circumstance, too little connection

well, i don't know the answer for this particular life episode since the end isn't within sight yet. yet, i have hope. and place faith.

 

bo-liaoz ramblings

I'm quite relieved to hear other Foresters declare how they are a bit weary of the Surin photos. and how they seem to dread the planning of the organisation of Pi Jued's booklet, a process that promises to be endlessly tedious

Becos it's a sentiment that i wouldn't even acknowledge to myself, unless i hear other people admit it first

do you sometimes have thoughts that are poking at the seams of your consciousness? thoughts that you try desperately to squash into oblivion so that you can feign ignorance of their existance?

I once experienced this glorious rush of relief when my lower sec geography teacher announced that she wouldn't want to live a long life, for fear of contracting Alzhemier's Disease and other elderly aliments. For fear of burdening her family. My sentiments then exactly. A nail hit on the head! Except that i wasn't as candid as her. Actually, I felt ashamed of harbouring this thought as I believe life to be sacred and was hence pretending for the longest time that i didn't feel such

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I don't understand why people don't understand why I chose not to go for Commencement. I just don't see it as momentous, that's all.

But I won't deny that i felt shiok when Khaiming and Bernice graciously lent me their gowns to wear for photo-taking.

The Spanish Apartment

scenes i liked:
~a chill-out and discussion about multiple identities (makes me think about how no singaporean director has explored our multi-faceted identities yet~do you feel more Teochew instead of Chinese? more cheena vs more ang mo pai? more (ethnicity) Singaporean or more Singaporean (ethnicity)? or just artifical labels tat we come up with to constrain ourselves)
~when the lead bade farwell to his girlfriend. they parted ways and the girlfriend used the escalator. she turned back and walked down a few steps but the lead was moving on. then, the lead turned back, only to see her disappearing within his line of vision. cliched scene to denote missed opportunity and aching hearts, perhaps. i thought to have the girl actually moving down the few steps was pretty cool and classy
~when the occupants went to cheong, got themselves drunk and high and sang merrily to a new american friend strumming "No woman no cry" on his guitar. liked this uninhibited display of solidarity. reminded of a favourite (similar) scene in Time and Tide

why i enjoyed:
~made me long for the chance to explore the unknown with friends from multicultural backgrounds. and for the chance to squash cultural stereotypes and learn about diverse cultures and form new tentative hypotheses about humanity. i'm glad i'm still this guy who hates to put himself into trouble cos i would have cursed at myself for not going for overseas exchange if i weren't.
~the fact that there isn't a main plot that governs the flow of this movie. rather, it's made up of disparate events and various underdeveloped characters/storylines. would have slammed other movies for being pointless if they were to portray their stories in the same manner, i suppose but i think it worked out really well for this coming-of-age from-college-to-working-life movie. seems more realistic because hostel life isn't dominated by one or two major events anyway. it's the little scattered slices of quirky hostel living tat make up the entire experience.
~i liked the fact that the lead gathered the courage to fulfill his dreams after this overseas stint. hmm, such finality of resolution is something i would think that's hardly found in real life (at least, considering how miserable singaporeans generally are with theirs). but after hearing how some teammates (in recent YEP) have had memorable exchange programs/work attachments, i guess being able to stay overseas does wonders to one's soul

questions:
~how do i work my way towards becoming a global citizen? *unsatisfied, shit i'm 24!*
~can i get a job as a movie critic? *grinz*
~why do directors always like to depict their characters' world in single colours?